Who am I (the name's Zenphamy by the way) to judge? I've already committed my blood and life to this country and shed the same. (Not by educated choice and not by free will) I even managed to take some blood and lives of the enemies of this country - (little teen-aged children living lives of savagery in jungles from the other side of the world who'd probably never seen a world map, much less able to find the mighty USA on such a map). Even managed to eliminate a couple of real enemies of this country, but that's a story for another venue.

I've sworn an oath, (something I take very seriously) to the Constitution and to defend it against all enemies, both foreign and DOMESTIC. That includes the un-learned and the willfully ignorant.

I returned to a normal life and have been a producer and man of the mind ever since, with no apologies, giving value for value and never asking or expecting anything from any other man. I've sought and achieved levels of education and understandings of reality and history few others have attained, and I've discovered the vast realms of learning still to be achieved.

As to those "good, God-fearing, Constitutional Conservatives", "duly elected", "who believe in their hearts that this country is worth fighting for and will commit their blood and treasure to do so.", I'll refer you to some founding father and a couple of other relative quotes:

"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution." Thomas Jefferson Third President of the United States

and with emphasis "There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. " Noah Webster American Lexicographer

and again with emphasis, "The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." Edmund Burke British Statesman, 1784 (Not a founder, but a correct observation that applies particularly to a Concon)

and, "the ultimate authority ... resides in the people alone," (James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, in Federalist Paper #46.)

and, “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” -Abraham Lincoln (A little irony there)

and finally, “You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” John Quincy Adams

In my humble opinion, I seriously question the intent, honor, fidelity, and trustworthiness of all those "good, God-fearing, Constitutional Conservatives" you refer to. It strikes me that if they were what you imply they are, they'd already be visibly and vocally fighting against the current tyranny instead of making a very, very good living from participating in the ongoing degradation.

Rozar: Exactly. Not only bigger problems, but they could quite easily destroy what little we have left of this nation.

Asking a question usually means that one would like an answer.

You're right in that I fully intend to defame, (really, I don't need to defame. They do that for themselves quite ably.) nearly every American legislator that I can think of. There are very, very few of the professional political class that deserve any form of respect from me or any others.

Rim: This reply doesn't deserve a response.

Robbie: An Article V convention stands a very good chance of altering the original Constitution in such a manner as to enforce the very kind of thinking that has allowed most citizens to believe that individual rights derive from the Constitution. That event, to me, is a scary probability.

As the Constitution stands at this point, it supports the arguments of believers in individual and natural rights to illustrate that our rights have been stolen by the political and bureaucrat class. There are certainly Amendments that could make a difference, but only after the citizens as a whole enforce the current commandments of the Constitution to those in government. And those Amendments need properly to come from the mass of citizenry not from the political class, in order to have some teeth.

Rim: "If he truly believed that, he would be doing everything he could to inform, rather than decry other's efforts to inform."

Some just can't or won't be informed. From the same comment that you quote from:

"Very few of our population, including commenters on this site and Article V proponents, have an understanding of natural rights vs. the pablum they've been fed of 'constitutional rights', as an example. There are no such things as 'constitutional rights'. There are only natural rights and there are a very few listed in the Bill of Rights, to illustrate where government may not trample. In the belief that their rights come from the constitution, the population then thinks it's OK for the government/voters to limit those rights in certain circumstances. The Objectivist needs to offer explanations and illustrations of the differences and the individual gains available from living a life of Objectivism with a government truly limited to only protecting natural rights - all natural rights."

But we soldier ahead.

If people equate all politicians with the economy, then we could throw them all out. Only about 10-20% of them are worth keeping anyway.

This would be a hard sell because so many people seem to equate politicians, esp the president, with the economy. It makes no sense to me b/c if I go out and find customers and hire people then people say, the president's doing a good job. He didn't hire anyone or solve anyone's problems? Why give him credit or blame?

I like the sound of separation of state and economics. That could be a good campaign platform.

"...we have to get money out of politics."
Having a separation of state and economics similar to the so called separation of state and church would be a good step.

I agree with the Democrats that we have to get money out of politics. At the very least it would be good for it to be public record. It used to be the press was free only for those who could afford a printing press. Now everyone can publish their ideas for free in the Internet. Spending money isn't speech.

The Republicans seem to be in favor of measures that make it a little harder to vote. i agree with anything that might filter out people who don't even know the basics of what's going on. (Crap, that might be me sometimes.) Anyway, the paid advertising only influences morons and drives away intelligent people. If you had to be intelligent to vote, maybe the money in politics wouldn't matter as much.

That's a good area to be in, Robbie.

I do teach the first couple of hours of content of what would be in a Six Sigma class as part of my Materials Lab course, and I do mention Six Sigma.

We have a Six Sigma course through our online program. I do some process improvement, but not a whole lot.

You can get the right to vote if you pay a small fee to become a producer.

Hey rim. Have you seen the movies? What did you think

Besides, Rozar... isn't the answer to a deficit of education MORE education, not a continuation of ignorance?

If he truly believed what he was saying, he would be trumpeting the critical importance of bringing everyone up to speed on the POSSIBILITIES inherent in an Article V remedy, not the "dangers."

His argument is the argument of an enemy of a thoroughly constitutional process, and as such, the argument of an enemy of the Constitution.

I have read the Convention of States document before and read the Liberty Amendments. There are exactly 13 states as I quoted elsewhere just a few minutes ago that will forever oppose our goals. Several others are remote possibilities.

The arguments for the Convention of States are indeed excellent. When America has a system where our votes are not cancelled out by those without brains, then I will be once again interested.

He gives a nice speech... "And they won't do that until they begin to see themselves as individuals with natural rights derived from existence as a human being and the gains available to all from self determination."

If he truly believed that, he would be doing everything he could to inform, rather than decry other's efforts to inform.

This type of reasoning is EXACTLY the same reasoning that Liberals use in their attempt to keep Blacks "down on the plantation."

Sorry, Massah... you is yestiddy... movin' on heah, boss.

I would love to see that enacted. The states that will forever block what we want are as follows: NY, CA, OR, WA, IL, NJ, CT, MA, RI, VT, MD, PA, and DE. There are several other maybes: MI, ME, etc.

Since I'm still a "noob" and am not allowed to give your comment a thumbs up, I'll do it the old fashioned way... BUMP!

PS: I particularly like your take on the real issue being the threat that the balance of power is shifting... God, let it be so!

If you remember the Patrick Henry University from AS, it exists now in real life and is called Florida Tech. We have a lot of people here that would be considered outsiders elsewhere. It is a pretty nice gig for someone of Gulch values.